With the Approach of Finals, Consider a Short Study Break: Focus on Your Future

By Kate Szumanski

With finals approaching, now isn’t the best time to think about your career and professional development is it? There are deadlines to meet, tests to study for, and papers to write.

But in these busy moments when you’re sleep deprived and swamped with work, I challenge you to take a deep breath, find a brief quiet time to reflect, and think about what all of this work is leading toward.

Maybe your dream is to become an emergency room doctor, triaging patients and saving lives. Or maybe you’ve always wanted to be a lawyer, fighting for justice in a court of law. Maybe you’re fascinated by operating systems and software advances, and a career in computer programming is calling to you. And maybe you are a whiz with numbers and seek to apply your strong analytical skills on Wall Street in finance.

Or maybe, just maybe, you’re not sure what “you want to be when you grow up.” And you know what, that’s perfectly OK. What’s not OK is not talking about your options, your strengths, and your passions, for therein this discussion might possibly be your professional ambition waiting to be explored.

What are you doing know to lay the foundation for your dream to be realized? What are you doing now to help discover what that professional dream might be?

After you think about these questions, go back to the books. You have finals to ace. But during your winter break, think more deeply about these important issues. Discuss them with people you trust. Think about how you will return to the University in January 2015 with a renewed focus on your professional development.

In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University, and in the Office of Undergraduate Students, we teach our students – liberally educated young adults – to be adaptable, nimble, and flexible students and professionals who contribute powerfully to society.

We want our students to realize their full potential, to discover their passions and to pursue them with relentless determination. Maybe it’s through an internship. Maybe it’s through a professional development course. Maybe it’s through one of our many professional development events. Discovering who you are and what your impact can be should help define your Villanova journey.

I encourage students to visit the Office for Undergraduate Students in SAC 107 often. Discover who you are and who you are meant to be. Let our office of dedicated professionals help you on your journey of discovery.

Kate Szumanski, ’95, ’97, is the associate director for experiential education in the Office for Undergraduate Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. Follow her on Twitter @KateSzumanski.    

Think Internships and Join the #InternNation

By Kate Szumanski ’95, ’97

Career-building, mentoring, networking. You’ve heard the terms over and over again. How can you as a student –right now – actually “do” these things?

Think internships.

Now more than ever, internships provide you with tremendous value. From gaining real-world experience in a variety of fields to collaborating with diverse professionals and expanding your network, internships allow you to experience the workplace as an insider – a true participant.

The value of an internship cannot be denied. You can experiment and test the waters. You can learn how to apply your academic experiences to a variety of careers, and begin to understand where you fit, what you like, and what you don’t.

In addition, many employers consider their own interns ideal candidates for full-time positions.

Where should you start your internship search? Visit GoNovaJobs. Here you’ll find opportunities and application instruction.

If you seek to earn academic credit for your internship, please visit me, Kate Szumanski, in the Office for Undergraduate Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in SAC 107. I look forward to discussing with you everything you need to do to secure credit for your internship.

In the coming days, our office will host a series of Internship Workshops designed to fuel your passions and ignite you on your professional journey. Be on the lookout for those dates, times, and locations.

Kate Szumanski, ’95, ’97, is the associate director for experiential education in the Office for Undergraduate Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. Follow her on Twitter @KateSzumanski.    

Center for Peace and Justice Spring ’15 course offerings

The Villanova Center for Peace and Justice has kindly shared the full listing of their Spring 2015 course offerings with us, for perusal during the coming class selection window. For those so inclined, you can view their full offerings at this link: Peace and Justice Spring 2015 Courses.

Virtual Career Fair for People with Disabilities – 11/13

Virtual Career Fair Date: Nov. 13, 2014
Are you a person with a disability…
looking for a career opportunity or internship?

This Virtual Career Fair is FREE for students and alumni with disabilities to attend. This is a great opportunity for College Students & College Grads with disabilities to meet online with employers across the nation including American Transmission Co., ANSYS, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Enterprise Holdings, Epic, Genentech, KLA-Tencor, Lexmark, Verizon, & other Excellent Employers!

Students and alumni are invited to interact with employers via chat sessions.

CONNECT WITH EMPLOYERS LOOKING TO HIRE
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

• Access opportunities within a wide range of careers.
• Chat with employers across the nation
• Public and private sector opportunities

INTERVIEW WITH EASE

• Participate from the comfort of your home,
  your dorm room or your favorite coffee shop!
• Discuss careers and internships with multiple employers
• End-to-end accessible technology platform

CAREER FAIRS WITH LESS HASSLE

• Save time and money.
• No business suit or travel required
• No printed out resumes necessary

Register at www.careereco.com/register/disability

Deutsche Bank DB Achieve Sophomore Internship Program

At Deutsche Bank, we believe that diverse teams are smarter teams. We believe that success comes from many perspectives – and that an inclusive workforce goes hand in hand with delivering innovative solutions for our clients. It’s why we employ 135 different nationalities. It’s why we’ve created our DB Achieve sophomore program which celebrates diversity in all its forms. And it’s just one of the reasons why you’ll find the working culture here so refreshing.

DB Achieve is an eight-week introduction to a career at Deutsche Bank designed for students who are diverse and/or students who can show a commitment to diversity. Join us and we’ll pack your summer with training sessions, challenging work assignments and networking opportunities. You’ll experience our commitment to diversity and an inclusive work environment first hand.

How to apply?
Submit your resume AND a 500 word essay telling us how your commitment to diversity makes you the ideal candidate for DB Achieve. Application deadline is Sunday, November 16, 2014 with interviews to follow in December. Only complete applications will be considered

Asset & Wealth Management
Apply Here

CB&S: Markets
Apply Here

CB&S: Corporate Finance
Apply Here

Discover something different at db.com/careers/dbachieve

Discovering New Possibilities at a Wonderfully Familiar Place

Discovering New Possibilities at a Wonderfully Familiar Place
By Kate Szumanski

While the old adage, “You can never go home again,” rings with truth, we convince ourselves otherwise. We say, “Yes, I can go back home, and everything that I left will be exactly the same when I return.” Somehow our memories freeze our past experiences in standstill motion, creating nostalgic feelings that comfort us in challenging times and reassure us when the frenzied pace of life overwhelms us.

But reality quickly sets in and thaws our frozen thoughts. The neat applecart is disrupted. Situations change. People change. Things change. We change. The one constant is change. And this is how it should be.

In the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University, and in the Office of Undergraduate Students, we teach our students to be adaptable, nimble, and flexible students and professionals who embrace change and progress. While it’s tempting to reject change, it’s important to view it as a positive force, an opportunity to learn, grow, and discover in ourselves what we hadn’t already known. We want our students to explore, experience, and evolve. Heck, it’s our tagline after all.

We want our students to realize their full potential, to discover their passions and to pursue them with relentless determination. Maybe it’s through an internship. Maybe it’s through a professional development course. Maybe it’s through one of our many professional development events. Discovering who you are and what your impact can be should help define your Villanova journey.

explore.  experience.  evolve.

Changes come in many shapes, sizes, and settings. Two years ago, I left the University to pursue new opportunities with my family in central Ohio. The experience taught my husband and children valuable life lessons, and after a year in the Midwest, we decided to return to the Philadelphia area to live closer to our loved ones.

We’ve changed. We’re different. Our worldview has widened, too. And these are all great things. Have we returned home? Yes, we have, sort of. We bring all that we’ve learned and experienced to our new adventures – to a new home that’s been reshaped by who and what we’ve become. While you truly can never go home again, you certainly can return to that deeply meaningful and familiar place with new eyes, wider vision, and, we hope, bigger and better ideas.

Working with students to help them realize their full potential as educated, responsible, and socially-conscious young professionals is a wonderful experience for me. The opportunity to contribute powerfully to current students at my Alma Mater not only is incredibly rewarding, but also incredibly humbling. A Villanova education is a gift that never goes away. It will live with you forever.

I encourage students to visit the Office for Undergraduate Students in SAC 107 often. Discover who you are and who you are meant to be. Let our office of dedicated professionals help you on your journey of discovery.

And when you graduate, your Villanova education lives on, never to be frozen in time but to forever evolve.

(Can you come home again? Sure, that’s what Homecoming is all about. Just know that campus will be different. You will be different. And that’s OK. It’s better than OK. It’s terrific.)

Kate Szumanski, ’95, ’97, is the associate director for experiential education in the Office for Undergraduate Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova University. Follow her on Twitter @KateSzumanski.    

[Guest Post] Dean Lindenmeyr’s Do’s and Don’ts for Academic Success in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Dean Lindenmeyr graciously stopped by to share these illuminating tips for success, which she first bestowed upon the class of 2018 at Orientation several weeks ago.

Ten Dean’s Do’s and Don’ts for Academic Success in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Villanova

1. DO take the time to get to know your professors. Visit them during office hours. Take advantage of their willingness to get to know you better, and to work with you.
2. DON’T skip class. Ever. You’ll miss important information and annoy your professors; and you want to stay on their good side. And never, ever text or phone in class.
3. DO buy the textbooks. Open them. Read them.
4. DON’T sit in class like a lump. Be an active learner, not a limp, passive sponge.
5. DO study with friends. Learn along with them and from them.
6. But DON’T cheat. Ever. We know all the ways to cheat, and you will be caught.
7. DO take at least one course that seems completely exotic and fulfills absolutely no requirement. It could be Gaelic or Russian history, medieval poetry or the sociology of deviance or the chemistry of art. Explore.
8. DO change your mind at least once about your major or your career goals, even if you change it back later.
9. DON’T wait until the second semester of your senior year to visit the Career Center in Garey Hall.
10. DO take advantage of the academic opportunities that are all around you. Do something daring. When a door suddenly opens before you, walk through it.

New ATLAS Program Launched!

An open letter to all College of Liberal Arts and Sciences students from Matthew Kerbel, Ph.D., Chair of the Political Science Department.

Dear CLAS Students,

We are excited to announce a new Certificate in European Politics that we have launched in partnership with the European School of Social and Political Sciences at the Université Catholique de Lille, in Lille, France. This is an ATLAS spring semester program that is unique and exclusive to Villanova students. If you are thinking of majoring in Political Science, have an interest in European Politics, or are taking French as your language requirement, this is a great opportunity to integrate a Study Abroad activity into your curriculum.

More details are available at http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/vpaa/abroad/findprogram/sem_lille.html, but let me give you a few highlights.

• The Certificate may be earned by taking the equivalent of 12 units of Political Science courses at ESPOL in addition to PSC 1200 (which is already a required course in the major).
• You will also be taking a 6-unit combined culture and French language course called Intercultural Communication, which includes excursions in the region
• If you are already taking French, this is a terrific way of accruing credits towards a double major in French and Political Science.
• You will be housed in single rooms in dormitories within walking distance to ESPOL. These dorms are equipped with common kitchen, gym and social areas.
• You will be assigned a sponsor family who will contribute to giving you a more thorough experience of French culture.
• Political Science courses taken at ESPOL can only be applied to a certificate, minor or major. In other words you cannot, for example, use the same course to fulfill both a certificate and a major.
• All Political Science courses taken at ESPOL will be approved automatically for PSC credit.

Note that the application deadline for this spring semester (2015) is October 15. This is because study visas will need to be processed.

I encourage everyone to consider this unique study abroad activity. It is part of our efforts to more closely link the courses taken abroad with our home curriculum in the department, and ease the process of vetting and approving courses on the basis of our confidence in their quality of instruction and experiences.

If you are looking for summer travel-study experiences in PSC, consider the Prague Program or the Washington Minimester. We will send out information on these programs over the course of the semester.

To get started, make an advising appointment with the program coordinator, Prof. Francois Massonnat, Department of Romance Languages and Literature. Email him at francois.massonnat@villanova.edu. Afterwards, he will direct you to the (newly renamed) Office of Education Abroad to fill out an application and get the process started.

Sincerely,
Matthew Kerbel
Chair, Political Science Department

[GUEST POST] Internship Experience by Jonathan Tam ’15

Every incoming college student knows of the college triangle aka the graphic of a college student’s time management. The three points of the triangle are labeled good grades, social life, and sleep and it tells you that you can only choose two. What the graphic does not tell you is that it is possible to have all three; you just need to have good time management and a plan.

            My freshman year was a big transition year for me and I figured out what I needed to do to be a successful college student. I also have the added filler of college baseball to my schedule, which helps to focus my time to where I need to spend it. I am a rising senior in the class of 2015 who is majoring in Psychology in the Liberal Arts and Sciences College.

            This summer I interned at a large-scale insurance company called ACE Group USA that specializes in insuring companies with a net worth of $1 billion or more. I spent time in the Risk Management Finance department, which looks at the expectations of every policy from every branch and looks at how the policies are doing compared to how they were projected to do.

            When I entered Villanova as a Psychology major, I was really hoping to be able to counsel and provide therapy but I would have to take way too many classes to earn that right so I have moved on. Now I have been looking at jobs in the insurance industry because it gives me the same kind of social networking without having to go to grad school to get a job. My summer internship in the Risk Management department was excellent for understanding how insurance works and how important social networking is in a workplace environment.

Internship with the Marian Moskowitz for State Representative campaign

Are you interested in politics, government, policy, or campaigning? Are you looking for a way to get started in politics or looking to solidify your skills and gain some real world experience?

If so, come work with the Marian Moskowtiz campaign for State Representative in PA’s 157th District! Marian is a business woman and community leader with over 30 years living in her area. This race is receiving a lot of attention as one of the state’s premier races. This is the perfect opportunity to help build a campaign up in the exciting months leading to November 4th win! We need to show power players in the state that young people can affect politics.

We’re looking to build a Millennial based campaign to overturn the stagnant politics of the current state government, all while building up our skills and electing a good woman into the legislature. Everyone is a part of the learning process here, and the skills you can build working as a part of our team will make you a more marketable professional once out of school. Come build your skills and your resume.

Contact James Ebersole, Campaign Manager, at MarianforPA@gmail.com with your resume and we’ll get you on board!